Arab Women’s Poetry between Ritual and Literature: The Elegiac Voice

Lecture

Date: Friday 10 October 2025

Time: 13.00 – 15.00

Location: F497, Södra husen, Frescati

A guest lecture by Mariangela Masullo, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Macerata (Italy).

The lecture will explore the role of women in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, focusing on the elegy (rithā’) as a bridge between ritual lament and literary canon. Through an exploration of their themes, imagery, and structures, the lecture will highlight how women poets shaped both ritual practice and the Arabic literary canon, revealing a space where gender, aesthetics, and cultural memory intersect. It will also briefly trace the evolution of the female poetic voice from the advent of Islam in the 7th century up to the Abbasid period (8th–13th century).

Mariangela Masullo is Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature University of Macerata (Italy).

Theme

Language, Literature and Culture

Last updated: September 29, 2025

Source: Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

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